Authorities said the school bus was stopped with its lights flashing when the log truck apparently passed the stopped school bus and struck 7-year-old Alyiah McKenzie Morgan. She died on the way to Sampson Regional Medical Center in Clinton.

Neighbors told ABC11 that Morgan's mother was standing by the roadside when her daughter was hit.

Authorities said the tractor trailer continued south down US 421 and was later found around 6 p.m., about 25 miles away near the town of Autryville.

The driver, 37-year-old Johnny Allen Spell of Roseboro, was charged with driving with impaired, passing a stopped school bus, hit and run and involuntary manslaughter. He is currently in the Sampson County Jail under a $200,000 bond.